District 9 is an expansion of ideas that Blomkamp first explored in Alive in Joburg, which was released in 2005: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alive_in_Joburg ht

District 9 is an expansion of ideas that Blomkamp first explored in Alive in Joburg, which was released in 2005: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alive_in_Joburg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alive_in_Joburg And as the previous comment notes, this movie is not quite just an apartheid allegory. That would be too easy. Instead, it's largely about present-day Johannesburg, with its massive population of unwanted illegal immigrants, its poverty and its horrific xenophobia. Just a few months ago black foreigners were being burnt and hacked to death in Johannesburg's streets, so the attitudes this movie alludes to have a fair bit of immediacy. Honestly, this is one of the few movies I've seen recently that I feel perfectly confident in recommending to anyone. It truly is excellent.